No matter how you slice it, he still hadn't corrected the fundamental flaws in his nature.
Even when he knew a problem lay right in front of him, even when he knew it held the means of resolution, the moment he understood that it would come with pain, he flinched.
It was the same problem back at the
In the end, was he really any different from when he'd been barking away in that narrow cage?
"Oh! It's the Gorgeous Tiger!"
"Whoa—hey, watch it!"
The moment the boy caught sight of Garfiel standing at the house, his face lit up bright. He came bounding over with his whole small body thrown into the sprint, and Garfiel felt a simultaneous twinge of worry and relief before catching him.
"For crying out loud, watch where you're runnin' and keep your feet under ya. You go taking a nasty tumble, and you'll look like a damn fool."
"Oh yeah, tumbling hurts! When Mimi was little, I used to trip all the time! And every time, Hetero would make this pained face. But Mimi was fine. Weird, right?"
Mimi laughed innocently at this, but it wasn't weird at all—it was just that her older brother couldn't stand to watch and took on the pain and the scrapes in her stead.
The result of spoiling her rotten was a big sister still so careless she could trip and fall at any age.
Well, either way— "So, has things calmed down at home a little?"
"Mhm, it's fine. Mom and big sis calmed down too."
"...Is that right."
The boy—presumed to be his younger brother—Garfiel ruffled his head and looked up at the large estate.
For Garfiel, it was a place that stirred complicated feelings.
At the Thompson residence, the family's pillar of support, Galgate Thompson, had long been absent.
If he'd been at work in the municipal office, too busy with reconstruction to come home, there would at least have been some comfort in that. But unfortunately, that was not the case.
Galgate Thompson had lost his human form, his body now that of a black dragon.
Garfiel had already confirmed this fact for himself.
Though Galgate had transformed into the black dragon, his vocal apparatus remained intact, so they had been able to exchange words. On that count, he was in far better shape than the other municipal employees who had been turned into flies.
The people transformed into flies couldn't even communicate, let alone speak—and yet many considered that a mercy. If you could talk to those turned into flies, you could easily imagine what manner of desperate wish they might voice in their despair at their transformation.
"Hey, Gorgeous Tiger. When is Dad coming home..."
"——"
"He is coming back, right?"
Garfiel ruffled the uneasy boy's head again, roughly with his palm.
It would have been easy to offer groundless words of encouragement here. But even if he did, no warmth would have filled them.
And thinking about what kind of wound those hollow words might leave in the boy, Garfiel couldn't bring himself to be careless about it.
If this boy were a stranger with barely any connection to him, would he have offered irresponsible encouragement?
Was it because they weren't strangers that he held back? He didn't know.
"Fred? Don't leave our guest outside for——ah."
"...Hey."
While he was chatting with the boy, a blonde girl appeared from inside the house.
The boy's older sister—and according to Garfiel's estimation, his younger sister as well.
When the girl noticed Garfiel, her expression brightened for an instant before immediately shifting to something uncomfortable-looking. In normal circumstances, the way her emotions flickered across her face might have been called adorable, but right now, all you could see through the cracks was her complicated inner turmoil, and it was just painful to witness.
"So you came all the way here again, huh? The Gorgeous Tiger sure must have a lot of free time."
"Yeah, well, I'm kinda on a break right now. Wanted to see your faces. But if I'm not welcome, I'll head right out... Hey—"
"Garfi, at least look at people when you talk to them!"
Garfiel felt just as hesitant as his sister, who turned her face away. But when he averted his gaze to show he wouldn't force the issue, Mimi pinched his hip from behind.
He looked back toward the girl and—sure enough—his sister looked like she was about to cry.
At the very least, he could tell she wasn't sending him away.
"Mom's sittin' up, and you're lookin' after the little guy too... Big sis's got it rough, huh?"
"——! Y-Yeah, that's right. So, um, I guess it's fine if you stick around for a little while. One more person won't make a difference at this point."
"There's actually two of us!"
"Fine, two more people won't make a difference!"
The girl screamed this with her face bright red, and the boy and Mimi looked up at Garfiel with hopeful expressions. With three sets of childish hope aimed his way, Garfiel wasn't heartless enough to turn them all down.
In truth, his current state of mind was the only thing reluctant about it. Garfiel had always loved responding to gazes like these, and having them come from his own siblings made it all the more so.
"Well then, guess I'll go on up. If your mom's got a problem with it, I'll beat a hasty retreat."
"Nothing like that would..."
"Our mother would never feel that way."
The siblings exchanged a glance and said this with a confidence that was almost brazen.
And in fact, they were exactly right.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "I'm sorry. Even though you came all this way, I haven't even properly prepared refreshments... If only I'd been a bit more organized."
"Don't worry about it. I'm the one who showed up out of the blue in the first place."
"You don't need to look so worried—I'm not bothered in the least. The fact that you take the time to come see us like this is a tremendous source of strength."
"——!"
Having his hidden feelings so effortlessly laid bare, Garfiel's throat went cold.
But the one who'd done it, Laria, had no malice whatsoever. Of course she didn't. Laria—their mother—was a person truly untouched by ill will, whether toward herself or others.
Even without her memories, that hadn't changed, and Garfiel had come to feel this through his interactions with her.
"Even so, the house sure is quiet inside."
"Now that you mention it, it kind of is? Last time I came by, everything was all cluttered, but now it looks all tidy."
Bouncing on the sofa and looking around with idle restlessness, Mimi agreed.
Once again invited into the Thompson family living room, Garfiel and Mimi watched as Laria set tea service on the table and smiled softly at their observations.
"Hehe, you noticed. Maybe it's because I live here every day and don't feel the difference, but..."
"That can't be it. Our house always felt really chaotic. You just don't pay enough attention, Mom."
"Sis, jeez, you're so annoying."
"What did you say!?"
At her brother's puckered-lip retort, the older sister flew into a rage with her hair practically standing on end, chasing after him.
From the corner of his eye, Garfiel watched the siblings noisily running around the house and turned to Laria, asking with a look what that conversation had really meant.
"...Wait, what did that mean? Was she saying there really was something?"
When his silent look got nowhere, he asked again properly with his voice.
Laria received the question, clapped her hands, and said: "It's nothing complicated. Right now, everyone in the city needs to support each other. ...A portion of our household goods has been given to those in need, and we've released some of our savings. Things like that."
"...So that's why stuff's been disappearing."
"There was a lot to begin with. It's less that we were well-off and more that I'm the type who can't bear to throw things away."
Laria stuck out her tongue sheepishly, but the situation probably wasn't that simple.
Of course, the principle that everyone must help each other existed. But the Thompson family was a special case. After all, the family had lost its pillar—their father.
In those circumstances, they should have been on the receiving end of help, not the giving.
"My husband... Galgate will come back soon. I believe that. So please, there's no need to worry so much."
"——! Jeez!"
"I've always thought this. The more you worry, the more happiness slips through your fingers. When I say 'always,' it's really only been about ten years—I've had no memories from before that... Oh, did I surprise you?"
"...Sorry if this is a sore subject, but I already heard it from your husband first."
"Oh, you did? ...Good grief, that man."
It seemed that memory loss was a reliable conversation-stopper, and Laria looked a bit disappointed that it hadn't landed. Garfiel thought it was an oddly optimistic use of her amnesia, but had she told him when he didn't already know, it would have been a real bombshell.
As it stood, he was finally able to take it in reasonably well, but that was only because he'd had time to think and the help of various people.
And more striking than the topic of memory loss itself was that the mind of a mother who had supposedly lost her memories—its very foundation—had not changed at all.
—That something good might happen tomorrow. That was the origin of everything Laria did.
"Galgate is the one who gave me these ten-plus years when I had nothing. He turned an empty shell into the woman I am today, gave me the chance to have a wonderful daughter and son... And so if I didn't believe in Galgate, what would that make me?"
"——"
"So there's no need to worry more than necessary. It's not bravado—I truly believe in Galgate. ...As long as he doesn't mind, I would have been perfectly happy with him coming back in that form."
"Well, even if he was okay with it, I think other people would've stepped in and stopped him."
"You think so? I thought it was rather handsome, in its own way..."
Laria offered a far-fetched defense of her husband who had become the black dragon.
That said, though his form had changed, Galgate still possessed the intelligence to hold conversations. The fact that they had discussed it together and decided on cryogenic sleep was their mutual choice.
Garfiel hadn't been the eavesdropping type to listen in, nor had he gone to see the actual freezing. That meant Laria's heart had been forged by her own hand.
"...You're strong, aren't you."
"Of course I am. I'm the mother of two children."
Laria smiled proudly, puffing her chest. In truth, she was the mother of four, but yes—she was strong. Stronger than strong.
It was a strength from an entirely different dimension from the one Garfiel knew—the kind that didn't come from trading blows. The strength that resonated with Subaru and Otto existed inside this mother who had lost her memories.
Surely, it lived in the parts of himself that Garfiel had never tempered.
"Oh, that's right. Actually, there's something I've been wanting to ask the Gorgeous Tiger myself."
Snapping him out of his distant stare, Laria suddenly clapped her hands together.
Her tone was so casually herself that Garfiel reflexively nodded and said: "Shoot. Though honestly, I'm not really involved in the important parts of all this. Don't expect me to say much."
"No, it's nothing like that. It's about you, Gorgeous Tiger."
"About me?"
"Yes. ——Why does the Gorgeous Tiger care so much about us? I've been wondering about that."
A surprise blow landed just when his guard was down.
Garfiel's fangs literally rattled, and the resolve he thought he'd built cracked right through.
"——"
Before him, Laria. At his side, Mimi. Both silently awaited Garfiel's answer.
Bathed in their gazes, Garfiel's thoughts churned in circles.
By the point Mimi had brought him here, he'd thought he had some measure of resolve.
But now he was being forced to realize that resolve had been vague all along.
Had he wanted to tell Laria about the past she'd lost?
Had he wanted, at the very least, to declare himself as the brother of his two siblings?
Or had he just wanted to convey his concern about Galgate and leave right away?
He couldn't even remember anymore which it had been.
"The, the reason I show my face around you guys is 'cause we've got some sort of bond, and then I started getting anxious, y'know? Like I couldn't look away. You two are kinda... lacking, right?"
"My, how rude. I can't really argue since that's true, though."
"Oh, we're lacking? Lacking what? Fur? Oh yeah! Mimi sheds so much fur in fire season! But in ice season, it gets all fluffy! Seasonal shedding!"
At Laria's and Mimi's natural-sounding reactions to his clumsy attempt at deflection, Garfiel could tell he'd pulled it off—and naked relief flooded his chest. Given their personalities, that should be enough to head off any further probing.
Without letting his inexpressible emotions show, Garfiel was able to excuse himself from the situation for the time being. Time. What he needed was time. These were matters that needed to be approached calmly, with distance, to find the right answer. He should confirm things with Frederica—with his sister—and then go from there— "——Ah."
"Are you alright, Gorgeous Tiger?"
"Why..."
"Somehow, you look so anxious—like a little child."
Garfiel froze. A white, slender finger touched the top of his head.
Laria had leaned in and was stroking his head. Her touch was impossibly gentle, filled with the kind of tender love one shows to a precious child.
Laria's memories, which she shouldn't have had, and Garfiel's memories, which he had nearly forgotten, overlapped.
Once, just like this, he must have been held in Laria's—Rishia Tinzell's—arms while she stroked his head.
The physical memory of that moment resurfaced in this instant, binding Garfiel's heart in place.
And before he could even think to endure, the dam of emotion broke.
"...Mom."
"——"
"Mom... Mom, Mom...!"
With her fingertips still resting on his head, Garfiel called out to Laria before him by that name.
His eyes welled with tears, his voice shook, and his small frame looked smaller still. Garfiel was the picture of frailty and weakness.
Of course he was.
No matter how bravely he tried to act, no matter how fiercely he struggled, in front of one's mother, everyone was a child.
No matter how much false bravado you put on before your mother, it was nothing more than a child's stubbornness.
"I... I wanted to tell you, Mom...!"
There were mountains of things he wanted to say. There were as many things to say as there were stars in the sky.
He'd spent so long resigning himself to the belief that he could never convey them, and now all those feelings were blazing with renewed brilliance, rejoicing in the chance he'd been given.
To be held in his mother's arms, to be forgiven, to be allowed to cry out in the safety of her embrace—this was what he craved.
"...Your name is Garfiel, right?"
"——"
With tears in his eyes, his gaze lowered, his voice squeezed thin—Garfiel.
Beside him, out of nowhere, Mimi spoke his name aloud. He couldn't tell who she was directing it at.
All he heard was the sharp intake of breath before him, and then the sensation of the fingers lifting from his head.
"——Ah."
The fingers drew away. The warmth of his mother vanished. Garfiel's throat let out a weak sound.
But that feeling was almost immediately replaced by another.
"Garfiel, come here."
Laria opened her arms and smiled.
Her gesture, her words—Garfiel's mind went blank.
But even as his brain shut down, his body, his soul, understood what they were supposed to do.
"M-Mom... I'm sorry...!"
Like a child, exactly as a child would, sobbing uncontrollably, Garfiel threw himself into Laria's—into Rishia's—arms and buried his head in her chest, wringing out his voice.
Gentle, soft palms cradled Garfiel's head, stroking it as he wept.
"There, there... Garfi, good boy, good boy. You've been trying so hard for so long."
"——! Yeah! That's right! I kept trying, kept pushing! But I messed up so many times, and even then... everyone...!"
His words fell apart, and Garfiel continued rambling incoherently within Rishia's arms.
What poured out was fifteen years of Garfiel's life.
Losing his mother, being separated from his sister, fighting to keep from losing his family any further, and then having the next ten years of his life shattered by Subaru and the others.
How many times in that stretch had he nearly been crushed by the weight he carried? How many times had he lamented?
Desperately clinging to lost love, refusing to let go, how many precious feelings had he trampled?
The wall of emotions he should have leaned on, cried to his parents about, and overcome at a much younger age—he had simply left it standing all along.
Knowing the wall was there, he had found the side paths, grown accustomed to keeping the towering barrier at his back, and gone his own way.
"...Mom."
"It's okay, Garfi. Mom's right here."
Her gentle words, her loving comfort. The love he had sought and been denied—now he entrusted his heart to it.
He remembered that his family loved him.
His sister, his grandmother—he knew he had been loved by them. He knew his mother had loved him, too.
But Garfiel, who could feel his sister's love and his grandmother's love, now—for the first time—felt his mother's love with his own body.
Having received what he had always known to be true, Garfiel wept.
He didn't understand the answer that welled up inside his chest.
He still didn't know its name.
But the thing he felt—the thing that now shook his heart, rang his fangs, and rattled his very soul—that, in itself, was the answer.
It was an answer everyone had always known, and Garfiel had finally, at the very least, touched its edge.
—This burning feeling was the answer.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "Oh, Garfi stopped crying? You cried enough? Seriously, Garfi is such a crybaby!"
Still sniffling, the passion that had overflowed finally subsiding, Garfiel scowled with embarrassment as Mimi opened the door and came back with the younger siblings in tow.
He hadn't even noticed when she'd stepped away, but apparently she'd left him alone with Laria while he sobbed—and that kindness only made him feel worse.
"Gorgeous Tiger, you okay?"
"You wouldn't believe a guy bawling like a baby in front of people! He's like our Fred!"
Even though she hadn't seen it directly, Garfiel had cried loud enough for the whole house to hear. Mimi had gone through the trouble of taking the siblings out to give him privacy, and now even that seemed wasted.
"...Sorry about that."
"Hmm, about what? Anyway, what Mimi wants to know is whether Garfi felt satisfied! And whether there are gonna be sweets!"
"Ah, yeah, right."
He was laughing with no particular thought behind his smile, and Garfiel genuinely couldn't tell how much of it was calculated. Was she really just running on instinct? If so, instinct was nothing to scoff at.
"Hmm? What's wrong? Do you like me? Do you like me?"
"I don't like you."
"Aww."
Even if she told him it was calculated, he couldn't believe it—but the fact that Mimi had saved him more than once was undeniable.
She had saved not only his heart but his life as well. In the end, Mimi hadn't lost her own life, but that was sheer luck. The fight Garfiel should have reclaimed had been ceded to Wilhelm, and he'd had almost nothing to do with saving Mimi.
The debt just kept growing, and he hadn't repaid a thing.
"So, Garfi, how'd it go?"
"You should ask her yourself. I'm sure it's all fine now. ...The Gorgeous Tiger she adores is still the Gorgeous Tiger she loves."
"Yeah, sounds about right. Garfi comes through when it counts."
He couldn't do anything about the way they hit it off over something so embarrassing. He ruffled the heads of both his worried-looking brother and his peeking sister, if only to distract himself.
Touching his siblings like that, Garfiel felt even more fondness for them than before. The reality of being brothers and sisters—something he hadn't been able to grasp emotionally—had finally taken on weight.
The instant he became aware of it, a new anxiety sprouted.
This one was easy to understand. Painfully, crystal-clearly easy. The question was whether he, as their older brother, had the qualities—had the right—to be acknowledged as such.
"Gorgeous Tiger?"
"Hey, why'd you freeze up? This isn't some weird illness, is it?"
Comparing the gazes of his siblings, Garfiel thought.
He probably wasn't hated. The boy's goodwill was plain as day, and the sister's, though harder to read, wasn't malicious.
Plus, he had fought powerfully in front of them as the Gorgeous Tiger. ——Honestly, he'd shown his pathetic side too, and without the cheering, he might have lost, but setting that aside for now...
"Garfi?"
"Sh-shut up. Give me a damn second to work through this."
Feeling like Mimi was extending him a lifeline, Garfiel ground his fangs and cut in preemptively. Mimi pouted and backed off with a "Geez," and once again Garfiel's brain spun at high speed, running hot— "I mean, seriously, are you really okay...? Your eyes are spinning and your face is completely red..."
"G-Gorgeous Tiger?"
"Of course I'm okay. Grr."
"Garfi just said 'grr'! I've never heard that before!"
A colloquialism completely out of character slipped out, and Mimi teased him for it, but he lacked the energy to retort.
With his siblings worrying about him, Garfiel's confused thoughts kept churning— "Really now, this won't do, Garfiel. Taking everything on yourself—look where that's gotten you."
"Ah, Mom..."
Laria caught Garfiel looking dizzy and gently scolded him. When Garfiel instinctively let the word slip, it was the siblings who looked shocked.
"Huh, why is the Gorgeous Tiger calling Mom 'Mom'?"
"Y-You can't! She's our and Fred's mother, not your—"
"It's fine. Both of you, alright?"
At Laria's gentle but firm words, the brother and sister reluctantly fell silent.
And looking at Garfiel, who wasn't remotely ready—not even ready to prepare his heart—Laria said.
Yes, she said it.
"Garfiel, you must be separated from your mother. That's why I probably look like her to you. And that's what made you so sad."
"...Huh?"
"Wow, you and Mom look alike?"
"W-What? ...Hmph, how embarrassing."
At Laria's explanation, each of her three children reacted differently. Garfiel was dumbfounded, but Laria's confident tone left no room for suspicion that this was a lie or a cover.
In other words— "Garfi, she's saying she didn't really catch what you meant?"
"——"
Just as Mimi had summarized so concisely.
That had to be it.
Crying so pathetically, so wretchedly, pouring out every ounce of emotion—and yet Laria hadn't picked up on the truth at all.
What a misstep.
"Well, can't really expect otherwise."
Having no memories meant having no clues to anything.
In that state, even if she heard Garfiel's jumbled, roundabout string of words, there was no way she'd recognize the truth.
In an instant, his strength drained away. From his fangs. From his body.
"Wh-what... Yeah, what else..."
The words he murmured—were they relief or disappointment?
Probably half of each, and Garfiel alone was aware of that.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ Despite the emotional whiplash, there had been some kind of harvest—though he couldn't quite call it that—and he figured it was time.
With that judgment, Garfiel left the Thompson residence with Mimi.
"Sorry we couldn't really do anything for you again."
"No worries! If anything, Garfi was the one who should say sorry for crying buckets, right? That's the vibe!"
"Shut up, don't keep bringing it up."
He grabbed the back of Mimi's neck as she responded to the see-you-out Laria. With a casual "Meow~" he lifted Mimi's light body, and Garfiel sighed as he looked back at Laria and the clinging siblings.
"You two don't have to worry—I'm not gonna run off with your mom or anything."
"I think so too, but..."
"Don't let your guard down, Fred. In the end, Mom is what he came for. Just because Dad's been gone a while doesn't mean we're handing her over while she's off guard!"
"You could tell she was off guard?"
In contrast, his siblings had gone to maximum alertness, and Garfiel groaned. As a result of Laria's oddly phrased explanation, the siblings apparently believed Garfiel had come to kidnap their mother.
That wasn't his intention at all—though, if he was being honest, if his mother did remember him, he wouldn't mind at least a little acknowledgment. That thought made it hard to flatly deny their suspicion.
"Alright, alright, the villain will be taking his leave now."
"Please come visit anytime. Whenever you want to cry, I'll lend you my chest."
"I ain't gonna go showin' that weak side of me willy-nilly."
"Then, just for me—the one who looks like your mother...?"
"Nngh—!"
Struck speechless, Garfiel decided to flee.
With Mimi dangling from his hand, Garfiel turned his back on the three of them—on a family he still couldn't call his own.
Watching him about to leave, Laria clapped her hands. Then she pushed the children who clung to her back forward, saying: "Come on, you two, say a proper goodbye."
"Gorgeous Tiger, see you later!"
"——"
The boy obediently followed, but the sister stayed silent.
He figured it couldn't be helped. But Laria thought otherwise.
"Really, you should see our guest off properly, right?"
"Mmm."
Being told this by Laria's unexpectedly firm resolve, the sister still wouldn't nod. At her daughter's stubbornness, Laria looked a bit troubled.
"There's really no need to worry about it."
"That won't do. Come on, sis—Raph! Raphiel!"
"——"
Exasperated, Laria finally called out her daughter's name.
The instant Garfiel heard the sound of that name, he seized up like he'd been struck by lightning.
"Ra... phi... el?"
"Yes, Raphiel. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever introduced her? This is my daughter. My two children—Raphiel Thompson and
Raphiel and Fred.
He'd heard the brother's name several times before. He hadn't paid it much mind—perhaps because he hadn't cared, or perhaps because he'd been afraid of noticing.
Raphiel and Garfiel.
Fred and Frederica.
Laria's two children and Rishia's two children.
The similarity of the sounds, and the reason behind it.
"You probably think it's a weird name for a girl, don't you? I'm well aware of that, thank you very much."
Misunderstanding his silence, the sister—Raphiel—pouted and said this. Garfiel, who had been stunned for a while, shook his head.
"No. It's a good name."
"You don't have to say that just to be nice..."
"I mean it. I really do think it's a good name."
"You do!?"
Hearing the sincerity in his voice, Raphiel looked slightly overwhelmed. Laria chimed in, beaming with joy: "I chose both their names. For some reason, I just wanted it to be this way, so..."
"Both of them, you?"
"Yes. They're good names, aren't they? ——I wanted my beloved children's names to sound like this."
"——"
It was, beyond any doubt, a testament to love.
Having lost her memories, remembering nothing of her past, this mother—who had never lost her kindness or her warmth—had bestowed the love she should have felt for the children she once had onto the children she bore anew.
"——"
Garfiel could have been angry about this.
He could have loathed it. He could have screamed from the bottom of his heart. He could have sunk his fangs in unjustly. He could have done any of those things.
But not one of those thoughts even crossed his mind.
In this moment, Garfiel was overwhelmed.
By his mother's love—Rishia Tinzell's love.
By his siblings' mother's love—Laria Thompson's love.
—And so, that was enough.
"H-Haha! Hahahaha!!"
Laughter came.
The hollow emptiness that had lingered in his chest just moments ago vanished.
The pitiful state of having failed to say what needed to be said, to convey what needed to be conveyed—to have left things half-finished—that shame melted away.
Right now, this was enough.
Because he had felt it—that they were connected.
"Well, see ya, Raphiel, Fred. I'll come again!"
"——! Yeah, Gorgeous Tiger!"
"B-You'd better not cry next time!"
He ruffled both siblings' heads roughly.
This time, his palms were different. This time, they held genuine affection. He was sure of it.
Then, at last, Garfiel raised a hand to Laria—to his mother.
"Thanks, Mom. I'll come bother you again sometime."
—As long as he remained in the city, he'd visit a few more times.
—And after that, when he returned to the Roswaal mansion, he'd come again.
Next time, he'd bring his sister and his grandmother.
That would be the time to talk about those ten years.
With different feelings than before, with a forward-looking heart. For now, he wouldn't speak of it.
Family matters belonged to the family.
"In the meantime, stay well!"
Garfiel raised his hand and spoke those words with strength.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "Mom, I'm glad the Gorgeous Tiger is feeling better."
"Yes, you're right. I'm truly glad."
"...Mom, why do you look so sad? Do you not want to leave that man?"
"I wonder. It's not that I don't want to leave. Leaving might be sad—but it might also be a happy thing."
"When is Dad coming back?"
"I don't know. But I'm sure he will."
"...Mom, why are you crying?"
"——Maybe it's because I found something I'd lost."
"I'm sorry, but thank you. ——I love you, Garfi."
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ With Mimi dangling in one hand, Garfiel entered the infirmary's common room.
Among the rows of beds, Otto's cot was placed at the far end, by the window.
On his way there— "O-Whoops!"
"Ah! I'm sorry, mister! Hey, Tina, wait up!"
"You say that, but I'm not going to wait. Hurry up, Rusbell!"
A boy and a girl were running noisily through the ward. The girl was in a hospital gown, and the boy appeared to be visiting.
The girl looked full of energy—at that rate she'd be discharged soon. Normally, they'd need to be told to keep it down in a hospital ward, but— "Sometimes you're saved by the sound of children laughing. That's why nobody can bring themselves to tell those two to quiet down."
"That's a nice thought, Otto."
Watching the children pass and continuing deeper into the ward, Garfiel was greeted by Otto. As always, Otto's leg was wrapped in thick bandages, and when he saw Garfiel with Mimi, his eyebrows went up.
"You seem a bit lighter, if I may say. Something good happen?"
"Yeah... Whether it was good or not, that's hard to say."
He couldn't honestly agree with Otto's question. It had been a barrage of values and emotions—complex, tangled, one assault after another. But every word, every encounter, had ended with something positive. He believed that.
"But it was a happy thing, wasn't it?"
"Mmm..."
"Garfi, you look good! Happy thing, something like that happened, right? That's enough, Mimi thinks—thinks!"
Dangling from his hand, Mimi grinned away without a care.
Her loud voice drew the attention of everyone in the ward, but the gazes slid away quickly.
The reason was the same as with the boy and girl earlier.
There was simply no way you could interrupt someone who was so genuinely, radiantly happy.
"Seriously, what am I gonna do with you."
"Oh, Garfi smiled too! Do you like me? Do you like me?"
"I don't like you."
"Aww."
"I don't like you. ...But hey—"
The exchange they'd gone through several times now.
At the very end, Garfiel added one more word.
With Mimi's eyes wide and Otto watching the back-and-forth— To his mother, to his sister and brother, to Subaru and the others who weren't here— "Thanks."
Because he felt, just a little, that he'd been able to move forward.
Garfiel showed his fangs and smiled.